Antennae lionfish
| Antennae lionfish | ||||||||||||
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Antennae lionfish ( Pterois antennata ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pterois antennata | ||||||||||||
| Bloch , 1787 |
The aerial lionfish ( Pterois antennata ) belongs to the subfamily of lionfish (Pteroinae). Like all fish of this subfamily, it is characterized by a laterally flattened body and by a color with white cross bars. The basic shade of the color is red-brown. The pectoral fins are greatly enlarged in a fan shape and show blue points at the end.
It lives in water depths of up to 50 meters in the tropical Indian Ocean from East Africa to the Great Barrier Reef in northeast Australia. Its habitat are lagoons and reefs .
The aerial lionfish is a loner and is more likely to be found on the bottom, where it slowly swims with its fins cornered. In addition to fish, it also eats crabs .
The aerial lionfish are poisonous fish. Its dorsal fin rays as well as two of the pelvic fin rays and two of the rays of the anal fin are provided with poison glands. These stings can inflict painful wounds on divers. The poison transferred in this way can cause respiratory paralysis, circulatory failure and fever in humans. The symptoms usually go away in a day or two.
Web links
- Antennae lionfish on Fishbase.org (English)